Strategic planning through the eyes Prof. Emmanuel Bayle: Lankan sports ten years hence

To achieve success in any task in life or life’s other essential goals like success in business or becoming a sportsman or a sport administrator one must be armed with a very clear vision and a plan of how to attain or arrive at the desired goal.

Being very precise in their goal and driving them into achievable vision, mission and objectives is one such undertaking that the sports world through the International Olympic Committee (IOC) parasol has embarked upon. As far as the IOC is concerned their machine will not be on the road because it is there. From this point onwards the National Olympic Committee around their realm would be encouraged to develop their strategic plans and work through a visionary pathway and encouraged to attain them through a measurable timeline and yardstick.

GoodSport was in conversation with Professor Emmanuel Bayle – a visionary who had authored over fifteen books on the same ilk – How to achieve and arrive at the desired goals through a proper plan and how to stick by them.

During this journey, GoodSport had a few questions that we are trying to look through the eyes of a person of the calibre of Professor Emmanuel Bayle and find out how would he help us to cut the cloth to suit the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka’s coat. It was a pressing need that we locals have been shelving since their inauguration back in 1937.

The GoodSport initial question came in the form of “How and why a Strategic Plan is important for NOC Sri Lanka?

Professor Bayle explained “It is a key tool of good governance and a best practice tool for the leaders. Also, it is a unifying apparatus for management and internal communication (better involvement of staff).

“Moreover, it is an external communication and legitimacy tool to strengthen a NOC’s image and the legitimacy of its action through the International Sport Federations, private and public partners, etc. It is also a tool to learn how we can overcome key challenges.

 “Not only that, but it strengthens the role of the NOC Sri Lanka in serving the general interest of the sport movement as a key factor in the Sri Lanka sport system; mobilises for a sports plan to overcome the challenges notably in education, health and tourism through sport.

We then posed the query “Who would be the Strategic Partners in this programme and how serious would the respective Federations be, taking into consideration our current situation in the country and the state of affairs in the majority of our Federations and Associations?

Emmanuel replied “There is a necessity to adopt a collaborative and partnership governance approach with the key actors of the Sri Lanka sports system, especially with the state.

“For a continuous long-run, the following actions ought to be undertaken with the below-mentioned key objectives:

• New contracts need to be developed with public and private partners – This could be possible through signing MoUs with the state ministries and institutions such as the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Finance, and Ministry of Higher Education (University Grants Commission). Moreover, the signed MoU with the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs need to be reinforced and placed in practice.




 

• There are 72 National Federations (NFs) affiliated with the Ministry of Sports but only 33 of them are affiliated with NOC Sri Lanka. In this case, NOC Sri Lanka should encourage the rest of the NFs to affiliate which will spread the Olympism across other sports as well. To do so, the constitution should be revised to include the non-Olympic NFs. New sporting institutions such as Sri Lanka Universities Sports Association, National School Sport Association and International School Sport Association in Sri Lanka should also be encouraged to affiliate with NOC Sri Lanka.




 

• NOC Sri Lanka can create new NFs based on the public interest and available resources in the country such as Hiking/rambling, American Football, Frisbee, etc.




 

• Expanding sport networking through public institutions such as public banks, railway departments, petroleum corporations, Sri Lanka custom services and primary firms/companies in Sri Lanka will enhance large scale sport participation. This could be done through singing MoUs with the above-mentioned institution with a long-run partnership. This could be done with the IOC’s TOP partners. Partnership with leisure sport private companies will also be another strategy to promote sport in the country.




 

We then moved to the question of cohesion. We asked “One cannot clap with one hand. The programme is a huge vision for the future of our country’s sport. How would propose the entire sports system of this country be involved cohesively and work for the future betterment of Sri Lankan sport?

Professor Bayle explained “Success of NFs and NOC Sri Lanka are depending on the quality of Sri Lanka’s integrated Sport System and National Sport Policy which is our strategic vision in and through Sport for Sri Lanka and the Nation.

“In this case, as I mentioned before, the five segments- Sports, Education, Tourism, Health, and Defense need to be well integrated in Sri Lanka’s context.”

Professor Emmanuel further added “A common strategic frame consisting of five primary strategic orientations and 21 sub-orientations drafted for the NOC Sri Lanka. This frame will inspire the NFs to develop own strategic plan in alignment with the NOC’s proposed plans.

 “Nothing can be achieved overnight; a lot of effort needs to be put together. Since the set objectives focus on short-, medium- and long-term developments and achievements. Therefore, Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games could be the ideal timeline which was validated by the executive board in the last meeting.”

Emmanuel further commented that the NFs should sign MoUs with the Ministry of Sports and NOC Sri Lanka in every Olympic cycle for sport development and high performance which should be included in their operational annual action plan. In this case, NOC Sri Lanka can play a major role voluntarily to coach the NFs to be engaged in the process.

Another point that GoodSport stressed was “In most advanced sports nations including India now the moulding begins at a very tender age. They grow with their respective specialist sport, envisioned with a Strategic Plan. Could we achieve this by the year 2032?

The expert Emmanuel said “Success of NFs and NOC Sri Lanka are depending on the quality of Sri Lanka’s integrated Sport System and National Sport Policy and a national sport policy specifically dedicated to elite sport. To do so, the following objectives need to be targeted.

1. Support elite performance and strengthen the talent identification and development pathways with required sport infrastructure;

2. Improve the level of community engagement at every level to be excited about the sport, engage in the healthy activity;

3. Bridge the cultural and demographic gaps existing and emerging across Sri Lanka society;

4. Take into account that the young generation is growing up with new technologies, develop global connections, creating distinctly different behaviours and values.

This could be achieved through the below-suggested actions plans:

· Support the creation of a National Sport Centre of Excellence and regional relocation centres

· Improve the athletes’ social and economic status and training environment (through national and international scholarships/grants)

· Enhance the professionalism of the staff and quantity/quality of infrastructures/equipment

· Reinforce the key role of the Ministry of Defence and tri-forces (sport facilities and jobs for elite athletes)

Finally, we asked “Producing Olympic Medals, guided by a plan such as this?

Obviously, a clear policy on elite sport has to be developed. We can imagine different solutions or reinforcing existing actions:

- identify and detection of young talents with a focus on juniors

- Support from Sri Lanka diasporas both for connections of potential elite athletes (at it was the case for Mathilda Karlsson) and to welcome Sri Lanka elite athletes (Diaspora solidarity); it could be a specific programme named “Sri Lankan sport talent around the world”

- foreign training opportunities in the best conditions as it was the cases for Susanthika, Manjula Kumara, Yupun Abeykoon, Niluka Karunaratne… The Sri Lanka elite athletes need emulation, best training conditions and capacity to participate to a lot of international competitions… they must travel and go abroad for that (cost of 50 000 $ per year)

- promote dual career system to get some scholarships from the powerful sport countries with the best universities in Australia, Europe, North America, South Korea … ; we have to create tailor-made solutions for that

- launch some new financial support to help to build the 2028/2032 generation on the road to Olympics. For example, through the creation of an “Olympic SL foundation” with the support from donors, crowdfunding, social events (gala, diners…) etc…

 “This is not necessarily the only goal to achieve even if it can trigger positive things: pride and sense of belonging for Sri Lankans and inspire youth in particular. But I think we need to look at more comprehensive outcomes and see sport and physical activity as a potentially positive contribution to Sri Lanka society. Whether in terms of education, health and economic development and especially tourism, an Olympic medal is nothing if it is not accompanied by a policy to take advantage of the role and potential it holds for a better-functioning society. This requires a more unified and partnership sport system, notably with four key public actors (ministries of education, health, tourism and defence) and of course private partners who also want to support NOC policies and federations”.